David Bransdon has fired a course record at Huntingdale Golf Club to lead the Mercedes-Benz Truck & Bus Victorian PGA Championship following the first round.

Playing in the morning field, Bransdon fired an 8-under 64
to take a one shot lead into the second round of the tournament.

Coming into the Victorian PGA Championship following a
disappointing midfield finish at the Oates Victorian Open, Bransdon turned his
putting around in the day break between the two tournaments.

"After last week’s putting debacle at Thirteenth Beach I
actually putted well today," said Bransdon.

"We didn’t have a big turnaround but I did do some putting
work."

"A mate of mine, Matty Millar noticed that my stroke looked
really quick. Today I just concentrated on keeping my rhythm a lot slower and
it worked."      

The man who gave him the sage advice, Matthew Millar is
6-under the card and outright second.

Bransdon has plenty of experience playing Huntingdale Golf
Club having competed in the Australian Masters when the tournament was hosted
by the venue.

"I’ve played 1000 Masters here; it feels like since I am so
old, 1993 was the first one, most of the guys in the field this week probably
weren’t even born yet," added 41 year old Bransdon.

"I have played a lot of years at Huntingdale and the course
has changed a lot over those years."

"I actually think it’s the best it’s been in a long time,
since they got rid of some of the elephants under the greens."

Effectively utilising his course knowledge, Bransdon
believes you don’t need to be the biggest hitter on Tour to capitalise at
Huntingdale.

"You need to be smart round here, that’s one thing that hasn’t
changed over the 20 odd years I have been playing at this course," added
Bransdon.

"You do need to be straight off the tee, it’s a little more
generous than it used to be back in the day, but you still need to be straight because
you can’t score from the fairway."

"If I have any local knowledge, you sacrifice some length
off the tee to hit it on the fairway."

Having played in the morning field and, looking to have had
the better side of the draw, Ryan Haller, Aaron Townsend and Anthony Houston
all fired rounds of 5-under 67.

Conditions in the afternoon made for tougher scoring but Won
Joon Lee and Ryan Fox managed to cards rounds of 4-under 68 to be tied 6^th.

Rounding out the top-10 on 3-under the card are Scott
Strange, Max McCardle, Todd Sinnott, Ed Stedman, Michael Hendry and Neven Basic.

In the SEN Challenge, where amateurs have teamed up
alongside the Professional to experience the action inside the ropes, David
Bransdon and Rodney Hogg are tied for the lead with Ryan Fox and Gerard
Peterson on 12-under the card.

The
Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus Victorian PGA Championship will be played under a
new format based on the successful AT&T Pebble
Beach Pro-Am.

The format will see 92 of the PGA’s past and future stars vying for the title
and the Jack Harris Cup.

The tournament is proudly sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus and
supported by SEN and Huntingdale Golf Club.

The Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus Victorian PGA Championship will be played from
Tuesday 10th – Friday 13th February 2015 at Huntingdale Golf Club.

Admission to this event is free.

Huntingdale Golf Club is located in the heart of Melbourne’s world famous
sandbelt region and is one of Australia’s most prestigious private golf
courses.

For more information, please visit the Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus Victorian
PGA Championship website, www.vicpga.com.au.

The Victorian PGA Championship is managed by the PGA of Australia and is
sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia.